A Case Study of Hilton Environmental Reporting as a Tool of Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has recently reached the agenda of tourism businesses, and many of the hotel corporations are declaring their environmental and social responsibilities. This article presents a case study of the on-going CSR-related initiative at Hilton International and Scandic—the Hilton Environmental Reporting (HER) system. In order to improve the monitoring of performance of its facilities, Hilton corporate management decided to create HER, an environmental reporting and benchmarking system for all its facilities. This article reports on the history, criteria, and procedures within this computerized reporting tool created by Addsystems. The development and implementation process of the upgraded version of the system is also presented. This process brought to light a number of aspects that need to be addressed while developing such systems (i.e., the need for proper technical and IT support, training, and data verification, as well as strong and continuous management support). This knowledge could be used to help other tourism and hotel businesses develop their own reporting, monitoring, and benchmarking schemes within the CSR concept.